


fox gamble

by suheafoams



Series: fox gamble universe [1]
Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Cat/Human Hybrids, Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Foxes, Hybrids, M/M, Mentions of Sexting - Freeform, Multi, Neck Kissing, Necklaces, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Unconventional Relationship, Wolves, basically sungyoon has 2 hands for 2 boyfriends, cat!jangjun, fox!joochan, jangjoo put a velvet choker on sungyoon, lawyer!sungyoon, wolf!sungyoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:15:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25419799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suheafoams/pseuds/suheafoams
Summary: “So what do you want?” Jangjun asks, after he brushes his long bangs out of his eyes with his forearm, a gesture that only emphasizes his feline nature. “For me to hand Joochan over to you?”“I thought we had something special, Jangjun,” Sungyoon says, and the defiant edge to Jangjun’s mouth softens ever so slightly as something indecipherable flickers across his face. “Do you think so little of me that declaring war is the only option for you? Or is it because you’re so used to stealing love that you’re not used to receiving it unconditionally?”“Most people don’t want bratty kittens like me for keeps,” Jangjun says airily. “Why would you?”“I’m not most people, then, because I’ve found a bratty kitten I’d very much like to take home,” Sungyoon says, and Jangjun visibly freezes mid-inhale. “And it would be a shame to separate you and Joochan when you care about each other so deeply.”
Relationships: Choi Sungyoon | Y/Hong Joochan, Choi Sungyoon | Y/Hong Joochan/Lee Jangjun, Choi Sungyoon | Y/Lee Jangjun, Hong Joochan/Lee Jangjun
Series: fox gamble universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115552
Comments: 58
Kudos: 177





	fox gamble

**Author's Note:**

> this is my bb but also a flawed one so be gentle on her and me (cries) 
> 
> basically u can tell that i like sungyoon, joochan, and jangjun v much from this LOL. this is my first time writing poly so i dont expect to have gotten it Right (esp bc i meant for it to be "short") but i did my best to have it be heartwarming :P
> 
> this was meant to be a prompt for a drabble (given by my friend tofu) so this is all her fault. i also blame her + my other friend ei for dragging me into golcha and causing me so much emotional distress over best boyos. there's not really a plot , just a bunch of scenes i wanted to write that grew bigger than i could handle HAHAHA of course, typical dahlia behavior 
> 
> anyways hope u find this monster somewhat enjoyable! :0

“You know,” Sungyoon says, as Jangjun sets down Sungyoon’s to go coffee with one of his best business smiles, the one he uses to charm customers into ordering more pastries and convince Sungyoon that Jangjun is interested in him for purely innocent reasons, “you don’t have to steal everything Joochan likes to win his affection.” 

Joochan is Jangjun’s coworker, a giggly, clumsy strawberry blonde who works nearly all the same shifts as Jangjun, based on what Sungyoon has observed from his increasingly frequent visits. Despite the fact that Joochan is a fox and Jangjun is a cat, they’re like twins in how closely they stick together and in the similarities between their temperaments, although Jangjun tries harder to mask his affection whereas Joochan can’t help but wear his heart on his sleeve. 

Where there’s one of them, the other will soon follow, and they’re so noisy together that their manager often comes out and scolds them for causing a ruckus in the calm, quaint coffee shop that’s meant to be a safe haven for all their customers. Sungyoon doesn’t really mind the noise, though, not when Joochan and Jangjun bring so much brightness into his otherwise monotonous days working as a lawyer specializing in intellectual property. 

Sungyoon has made enough polite conversation with Jangjun to sniff out the superficial information: that Joochan and Jangjun are somewhat best friends even if neither one of them openly admits it, and that Joochan majors in art and specializes in product design while Jangjun majors in “being handsome,” or statistics (the less interesting answer, in Jangjun’s opinion). 

Jangjun’s eyes widen a little before they narrow into something more sly, and his ash blonde ears twitch. It’s the first time Sungyoon has been so blunt with him, and Sungyoon can tell Jangjun isn’t used to it, is more accustomed to the amiable, cookie cutter exchanges Sungyoon offers when he doesn’t feel inclined to dig any deeper into whatever conversation he’s currently holding. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Jangjun eventually says, jutting out his chin playfully. “Joochan likes me plenty.” 

“Not in the way you want him to,” Sungyoon says. He leans back in his chair, folding his hands neatly in his lap. “Pulling pigtails won’t get you anywhere, pretty kitty, if you want a certain fox to look your way.” 

“Pretty kitty…?” Jangjun echoes. The flutter of his eyelashes indicates he can’t decide whether he’s affronted by the nickname or flattered by it. “Do you think we’re close enough for you to call me that, or something?” 

The claws have come out. Sungyoon almost expects Jangjun to hiss at him, but Jangjun just gives him a miffed look that Sungyoon wants to melt away with a kiss to his temples, or a gentle scratch underneath Jangjun’s chin. The irritation on Jangjun’s end is understandable; in his perspective, once Sungyoon realizes that Joochan and Jangjun competing for his heart is merely Jangjun intentionally getting in Joochan’s way to stir trouble and make sure Joochan still pays attention to him, there are no further moves Jangjun can make on this playing field.

Sungyoon hadn’t realized it right away, until he’d noticed that Jangjun made zero effort to flirt with him on a day that Joochan had been on sick leave. Then he’d started to pick up on the smaller clues: how Jangjun would deal with more belligerent customers even when Joochan was in charge of the register, how Jangjun would talk to Sungyoon and glance at Joochan more times than he glanced at Sungyoon, and how Jangjun’s ears would flatten in displeasure whenever he overheard Joochan laughing at something Sungyoon said. 

For a kitten who worked so hard to put so many walls up and strived to become the epitome of unbothered, Jangjun was all too transparent if you knew what to look for. 

“You don’t like it?” Sungyoon asks gently. “I won’t call you that anymore if you hate it.” 

Jangjun’s tail curls around his thigh, thoughtfully. One of his biggest weaknesses is his ever present desire for another ego boost, and Sungyoon knows how to use that weakness to his advantage. 

“I _am_ pretty,” Jangjun says, even though he sounds a little hesitant, “so I don’t mind.” 

“You are.” Sungyoon holds in a laugh. “Thank you for the permission.” 

“So what do you want?” Jangjun asks, after he brushes his long bangs out of his eyes with his forearm, a gesture that only emphasizes his feline nature. “For me to hand Joochan over to you?” 

“I thought we had something special, Jangjun,” Sungyoon says, and the defiant edge to Jangjun’s mouth softens ever so slightly as something indecipherable flickers across his face. “Do you think so little of me that declaring war is the only option for you? Or is it because you’re so used to stealing love that you’re not used to receiving it unconditionally?” 

“Most people don’t want bratty kittens like me for keeps,” Jangjun says airily. “Why would you?” 

“I’m not most people, then, because I’ve found a bratty kitten I’d very much like to take home,” Sungyoon says, and Jangjun visibly freezes mid-inhale. “And it would be a shame to separate you and Joochan when you care about each other so deeply.” 

“I don’t care about him at all,” Jangjun says, stubborn even until the end, but his bottom lip trembles and betrays his real feelings, and Sungyoon reaches out to take Jangjun’s hand in his. Jangjun is much more insecure than he lets on, but Sungyoon thinks with a tiny push in the right direction, Jangjun will find that he’s capable of receiving more love than he’d ever hoped for. 

“You don’t care about me, either?” Sungyoon says. He raises his eyebrows, in faux-hurt at Jangjun’s coldness. “And yet you’re holding onto my hand so tightly.” 

Jangjun makes an irritated, conflicted noise, then pulls his hand out of Sungyoon’s grip like he’s been burned. “Aren’t you part dog, anyways?” he asks Sungyoon, who doesn’t bother correcting him and only smiles at Jangjun in amusement. The deflection is cute, no matter how rude or biting it’s meant to be, and Sungyoon can practically see the way Jangjun puffs up as he becomes defensive, apprehensive about getting his hopes up too soon. “Why are you interested in cats?” 

“I’m interested in you and Joochan, only,” Sungyoon says. “Couldn’t I ask you the same question? Why are you in love with Joochan when he’s a fox?” 

“I’m not—” Jangjun stops mid-sentence, before thinking better of it and abandoning his denial altogether. “I’ve known him for so long, that’s not the same.” His scowl is sour enough that it almost looks like he’s swallowed one too many a lemon slice, and Sungyoon wants to laugh. “Anyways, I don’t get you. Joochan is sweet. He’s not like me, so...” 

“So you’re aware that he’s sweeter than you are,” Sungyoon says, and he winks at Jangjun when Jangjun gapes at him. “You can’t fathom why someone would want to keep you when they could just pick Joochan, is that the issue?” 

“He’s cute, and caring, and talented,” Jangjun replies. “While I…” 

“While you’re cute and caring and talented in other ways,” Sungyoon says. “You just advertise your looks a lot more than everything else you have to offer.” 

“You sure act like you know me for someone who only visits a few times a week,” Jangjun says. He looks back at the entrance of the coffee shop, then back at the counter where he’s supposed to be, as if checking whether he’s lingered at Sungyoon’s table for too long. 

“Do you need to get back to work?” 

Jangjun shrugs. “You can entertain me for a little longer, if you want,” he says, like he doesn’t care one way or the other, and Sungyoon studies him for a moment before opening his mouth to speak. 

“You’ve been so busy trying to make Joochan look your way that you never saw the way I was looking at you,” Sungyoon says. “It’s funny, isn’t it? That I became fonder of you once I realized you weren’t really trying to win me over so much as you were trying to get in Joochan’s way.” 

“You’re twisted,” Jangjun says. “Are you the type of person who stops liking someone once they like you back?” 

“No,” Sungyoon says, smiling. “I just like kittens who act like they don’t care, but make sure my coffee is always at a temperature that won’t burn my tongue, and save the best cream puff of the morning batch for me even though I don’t always order it.” 

“What do you—” Jangjun blushes, for the first time ever, and Sungyoon doesn’t expect it because Jangjun never gets embarrassed by anything else. “Do you have that much free time to be paying attention to boring things like that?” 

“I look at tedious documents about copyright and trademarks for at least eight hours a day, Jangjun,” Sungyoon says. “I think our standards for _boring_ are vastly different.” 

“Blech,” Jangjun says. “I took a business elective once on intellectual property. 2/10, 2 points only because the teacher was pretty and she was nice to everyone.” 

“Of course,” Sungyoon says, rolling his eyes. “You haven’t rejected me yet, kitten. Does that mean you’re open to the idea?” 

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Jangjun says. He crosses his arms, like he’s hugging himself for protection. “Why would I stick around to watch Joochan make heart eyes at a sly wolf like you?” 

“You wound me,” Sungyoon says, before he tries a different approach. “Are you not brave enough to even ask your other half what he thinks of you?” 

Jangjun is smart, but love is blinding in more ways than one, and Sungyoon doesn't think Jangjun has ever picked up on the way Joochan bares his sharp teeth at any older customers who stare too long at Jangjun’s ass, or the sparkly eyed looks Joochan gives Jangjun that he gives no one else when Jangjun is telling him funny stories. 

“That’s a lot of effort for no guarantee of a reward,” Jangjun says, licking his lips. “What if he doesn’t think about me at all?” 

“I’ll lick your wounds if he really does reject you,” Sungyoon offers, and Jangjun glares at him. “No?” 

“I don’t want pity puppy licks,” Jangjun says. 

“What makes you think they’d be out of pity only?” Sungyoon asks, letting one corner of his mouth pull up into a smirk, and of course that’s what gets Jangjun’s attention, a promise for comfort that extends beyond the emotional kind. 

Jangjun hums, deliberating. “Well, I’m strong enough to handle the consequences if the gamble goes wrong.” 

“I know you are,” Sungyoon says, and he knows Jangjun is seriously considering his suggestion to confess to Joochan when Jangjun lets his tail curl around Sungyoon’s wrist, experimentally, as if he’s doing a test run for physical affection with someone he’d initially seen as a enemy. “Do you trust me, Jangjun?” 

“For now, I do,” Jangjun says, and at Sungyoon’s pleased smile, he averts his gaze. 

△ △ △

Funnily enough, Sungyoon ends up running into Joochan _not_ at the coffee shop, but on one of his lunch breaks. Sungyoon is in a different part of town because he’d needed to drop off time sensitive paperwork for a client, and he’s deciding between a small dumpling restaurant and the Starbucks next to it when he’s gifted with an unexpected lunch companion. 

“Sungyoon hyung?” 

“Joochan,” Sungyoon says, turning to the familiar voice and finding Joochan at the source of the sound. “What are you doing here?” 

Joochan has his backpack hanging off of his right shoulder, and he’s dressed in a soft, striped sweater and light wash jeans that completely contrast Sungyoon’s black dress shirt and work slacks. Joochan’s fluffy, orange tail swishes from side to side, as open and inquisitive as its owner, and Sungyoon smiles when he recalls that Jangjun is much more controlled with his curiosity. 

“This area is near my university,” Joochan says. His hair is bubblegum pink now, so he must have dyed it on a whim somewhere in between last Thursday and today. “Why are you…” 

“Work brought me here,” Sungyoon explains. “Have you had lunch yet?” 

“Nope,” Joochan says, before he grins. “Why? Are you going to treat me?” 

“Of course,” Sungyoon says, and Joochan only smiles wider before he’s tugging Sungyoon through the entrance of the Chinese dumpling shop, where they settle into a cramped table in the corner, with peeling, teal green edges and a wobble to its legs. 

Apparently Joochan has been here multiple times, which is convenient because he knows which dishes are the most popular, and he makes the restaurant owner’s daughter laugh with his enthusiastic attempts at communicating in Mandarin while she takes their order. 

“Jangjun confessed to me,” Joochan admits later, in the middle of the meal, and Sungyoon blinks at him, chopsticks pausing. 

“Yeah?” Sungyoon asks. It catches him a little off guard, because Joochan has been so calm today that Sungyoon could only assume nothing happened on Jangjun’s end yet. “Did he…” 

“He kissed me after I stole some chicken off of his plate,” Joochan says. 

“He kissed you—” _before I did,_ Sungyoon holds back from saying just in time, and Joochan nods. “The punk.” 

Joochan laughs. “He sure is.” 

“Did he say anything?” Sungyoon asks, using his chopsticks to pick a piece of fish up with a bit of cabbage and shoving the combination into his mouth before he says anything else to react. It’s not like he’d expected Jangjun to confess how he himself would confess to Joochan, considering the difference in their personalities and Jangjun’s significantly longer history with Joochan. Sungyoon should feel like an outsider in this sort of situation, logically, but he’s also the reason why Jangjun had gotten the courage to go after Joochan at all, so Sungyoon thinks it’s fair to say he’s an exception to the rule. 

“Yeah,” Joochan says, lower lip sticking out slightly. “He’s in love with me, hyung.” 

“Yes,” Sungyoon says, once he’s finished chewing and swallowing. “Are you surprised?” 

“No, because I love him too, but…” Joochan trails off, and then he says, “Can I hold your hand?” 

Sungyoon wordlessly extends his hand, and Joochan lets their fingers intertwine easily before he continues with, “It took me by surprise because he… I always thought he just liked proving a point, that he was always going to be the better choice between the two of us.” 

“Oh, Joochan,” Sungyoon says. He can only imagine how much Jangjun’s fear of being rejected by Joochan ended up hurting both of them. “That’s definitely not how he meant it.” 

“I know now,” Joochan says. “He’s so… you’d think he would have said something like a normal person, but at the same time, I’m not surprised. It’s exactly like Jangjun to spend years stealing all of my girlfriends and boyfriends so that in the end, I’d always have to go back to him.” 

“Years?” Sungyoon says. He’d suspected Jangjun would go to extreme lengths to monopolize Joochan, but receiving confirmation of just how far that desperation extends is still shocking. “Wow.” 

“Mhm.” Joochan shrugs, and he withdraws his hand so that he can pick up his glass of water to drink from it. “It never really clicked, because he was so… sometimes he’ll come and just sit in the same room as me, because he wants attention but not too much of it. Other times he’ll chew on my ear until I snap, or he’ll drag me into playing games with him even if I have to study, so I’m used to him being selfish.” 

“He does give off a vibe of having been spoiled a tad bit too much,” Sungyoon says. 

“My fault, I guess,” Joochan says. “He’s hard to understand, but the clinginess, I just accepted at some point a few years back.” 

“He thinks he won’t get love unless he steals it on his own terms,” Sungyoon says. “He acts like he doesn’t care either way, but it’s because he doesn’t want to ask and hear an answer that will hurt him.” 

“When I met you, and he suddenly got interested in you, too, I could only think about how much I hated that he always wanted everything and everyone I wanted, and never stole anyone else’s interests the way he did with mine,” Joochan says. “He could have literally anyone, and he still chose to go after the people I gave my heart to.” He laughs wryly. “Such a bad personality.” 

“And yet, you don’t think too badly of him,” Sungyoon observes. Even when Joochan points out Jangjun’s questionable behavior, it’s with a fond resignation, like it’s inevitable for him to give in to Jangjun’s tornado-like disposition. 

“I want to keep him, hyung,” Joochan says. “Is that silly of me to want, after all he’s done?” 

“No,” Sungyoon answers. In his eyes, Jangjun is one of those stray cats you want to keep petting until it finally stops hissing at you and drawing blood with its claws, until it’s crawling into your lap and licking you even as it shakes because it’s realized that you’ll wait for it everyday in the same spot without fail. 

“I was worried that I might just not know how to exist without him,” Joochan says. “That I’d conditioned myself to accepting we would never grow out of each other, even if our relationship wasn’t always smooth sailing.” He stares up at Sungyoon, fluffs his bangs out of his eyes and smiles. “Completely different from how I am with you.” 

“Oh?” Sungyoon says, amused. He winks at Joochan, and Joochan’s ears flush pink. “That makes sense. We’re very different. It’s almost like he’s... a cat and I’m a wolf?” 

“Don’t tease me,” Joochan says, and Sungyoon chuckles. “At the end of the day, Jangjun comes home to me emotionally, even if he tries to break everyone’s heart in sight, and he’s always treated me like I’m precious.” 

“Yes,” Sungyoon agrees. “The one thing he does right.” 

“You know,” Joochan says, after a long pause, and one of his fox ears twitches mischievously. “I was almost waiting for you to tell me you liked him better.” 

Sungyoon smooths out the furrow in his brow with his thumb and index finger. “Why are you both so…” 

“You were patient with him, but you didn’t give in to his advances, and I wasn’t sure whether you just found me cute or my feelings were actually being reciprocated,” Joochan says. “It confused me.” 

“I’m careful about the people I let into my life,” Sungyoon says, quietly. He’s always preferred being alone, even if most of the wolves he’s encountered are social creatures, and his solitary tendencies have only increased after his last long term relationship went sour years ago. “I thought it was simple at first, what the two of you had going on, but I noticed Jangjun had ulterior motives, and then I got invested enough that I wanted to confirm whether my suspicions were right.” 

“Is that all you wanted from us?” Joochan asks, pouting. “To _confirm_ your suspicions?” 

“What do you think?” Sungyoon asks in return, smiling. 

“I think you’re greedy,” Joochan says. “Jangjun mentioned that you thought it would be a shame to separate the two of us.” 

“Would it not be a shame?” Sungyoon cracks his knuckles absentmindedly. Joochan is every bit as much of a charmer as Jangjun is, just more subtle and less purposeful about the words he chooses. “And I think you’re just as greedy.” 

“So it’s okay that I don’t want to leave him behind even if I want to have you?” Joochan asks. 

“You’re not the only one who wants to keep him, Joochan,” Sungyoon says, and Joochan beams brightly at the admission he seems to have been waiting for all this time. 

“Will you kiss me when we’re outside, hyung?” Joochan says. “I got a kiss from Jangjun, so I should get one from you, too.” 

“Of course,” Sungyoon says easily, earning a delighted giggle from the fox sitting across from him, and he both anticipates and dreads the chaos that will come with trying to spoil two noisy lovers when they meet again as three under the framework of shifted expectations and newly dissolved tension. 

◭ ◭ ◭

Once Joochan has gotten his fill of chaste kisses, he coaxes Sungyoon into entering a nearby bookstore with him. He has to pick up a few required readings for an elective class, and Sungyoon doesn’t mind accompanying Joochan because he’s not in a hurry to go back to work. 

One of the store employees, a puppy girl who looks a little nervous at first to be in Sungyoon’s presence but eventually softens at his friendliness, helps direct them to the aisles where they’ll be able to find what Joochan needs for his classes. Joochan only lets go of Sungyoon’s arm when he’s finished scanning the shelves and starts to zero in on the exact books he needs to pull out. 

While Joochan searches, Sungyoon asks, “So what did you tell Jangjun after he confessed?” 

“That I would think about it,” Joochan says, and Sungyoon raises an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected that. “He gets to suffer for a bit because of what he’s done to me all these years.”

“Don’t bully him too much,” Sungyoon says, before whispering into Joochan’s ear, “We can do that later.” 

Joochan snorts. Turning around to face Sungyoon, he takes the three books in his arms and dumps all of them into Sungyoon’s hands, then heads towards the children’s section where they keep the games and stuffed animals and miscellaneous stationery and fancy gift wrap. “Hyung, you’re a devil in disguise.” 

“Any regrets?” Sungyoon asks, and Joochan shakes his head. “Should I keep the sweet gentleman act on for longer?” 

“It’s not an act,” Joochan says firmly, even then, and Sungyoon’s chest feels tight until he realizes it’s just that he’s not used to his heart filling up like this. “Should we get a kitty keychain for Jangjun?” 

◭ ◭ ◭

“You brat,” Sungyoon says to Jangjun, when he drops by for coffee a few days later. There’s no real bite behind the words, and Jangjun gives him a doe eyed look as if he doesn’t know why Sungyoon is annoyed. 

“What’s wrong?” Jangjun says, before gesturing to the mug of coffee in front of Sungyoon. “I made sure your coffee was the right temperature.” He makes an _ahhh_ noise in faux-realization. “Was it because I didn’t talk much in the groupchat you and Joochan added me to? I was busy doing all the work for a group project, unfortunately.” 

Sungyoon drops his irritation momentarily when he sees the discoloration underneath Jangjun’s eyes, having missed them earlier because Jangjun excels at overcompensating for his fatigue with even more forced energy. “Did you sleep, kitten?” Sungyoon asks. 

“Some,” Jangjun says. For someone who likes to compliment his own looks so much, Jangjun is oddly humble in that he never elaborates on the projects he does for school, and Sungyoon only knows Jangjun is doing well academically because Joochan brags for him. “You don’t look so hot yourself, Sungyoon.” 

Sungyoon shrugs. He’d forgotten to bring his eye drops with him to work, so his allergies are a nuisance, as usual. The text on a particular PDF of poor quality scans had also hurt him both physically and emotionally to read through, and it’s a miracle he’d gotten through it at the speed he did. 

But that’s not what he wants to talk to Jangjun about. “You kissed Joochan.” 

Jangjun’s eyes go playful. “Before you~ Are you upset?” 

“And I was so kind as to help you make your first love look your way,” Sungyoon says, sipping at his coffee, and Jangjun scowls at him. 

“How do you know…” 

“It’s the way you look at him,” Sungyoon says. “Anyways, I’m not really upset. I got plenty of kisses when I took Joochan to lunch on Tuesday.” 

“I know,” Jangjun says, voice going slightly flat. “He wouldn’t shut up about how excited he was to run into you by coincidence.” 

At first, Sungyoon thinks it might be lingering jealousy towards him, what with Jangjun only reluctantly agreeing to confess to Joochan after wanting to monopolize the fox by his side for years. Conventional portrayal of love in movies never teaches you how to open up your heart to more than one person and share affection so that it keeps growing, only how to possess it, how to contain it and lock it in. 

Then he sees the way Jangjun’s gaze drops to his mouth, and Sungyoon figures out what Jangjun really wants. “I would have treated you to a meal, too, if you were the one I ran into,” Sungyoon says. “Do you want me to make it up to you?”

“I want a kiss,” Jangjun says, closing his eyes and tapping on his cheek. 

“Will you call me hyung, first?” Sungyoon asks, and he laughs when Jangjun freezes. Opens his eyes just to stare at Sungyoon in disbelief. Jangjun’s eyelashes are so pretty, a lighter brown in color that almost perfectly matches the honey tone of his irises. “Why? Is that too hard for you?” 

“No.” The line of Jangjun’s mouth is petulant as he stares off to the side briefly before directing his attention to Sungyoon again. “Hyung.” 

Sungyoon smiles. _So cute._ “‘Hyung,’ what?” 

Jangjun bristles, taking a step back, and Sungyoon shoots out his hand to grab Jangjun by the wrist before Jangjun can escape. “What are you—” 

“There’s something on your face,” Sungyoon says. “Lean down and I’ll brush it off for you.” 

Not thinking much of it, Jangjun does as Sungyoon suggests, and he makes an adorable noise of surprise when Sungyoon pulls him closer by the jaw and kisses him on the cheek. Sungyoon holds up the extra menu that’s been left at his table so that their faces are covered and no one sees them. Jangjun shakes his bangs out of his eyes after Sungyoon releases him, like he’s not sure what has just happened, and he gapes down at Sungyoon. 

“I would say ‘cat got your tongue,’ but I think that would be a stretch of a joke,” Sungyoon says. “Since you’re the cat.” 

“I can’t believe I fell for that,” Jangjun says, with a dismissive _hmph_. His tail stutters, still recovering from the ambush he hadn’t been able to foresee despite being an expert at flirting, and Sungyoon does his best not to laugh at the disparity between Jangjun’s feline honesty and the displeasure he’s trying so hard to express in his voice and words. “You would have kissed me even if I didn’t call you hyung.” 

“Would I?” Sungyoon says, and Jangjun sends him an ambiguous look. “Isn’t it nice to be open with your feelings, pretty kitty?” 

“It’s not too bad,” Jangjun says, gaze softening for a few seconds before he catches himself. “I’m going back to work now, _hyung._ ” 

“Do you want another kiss for that?” Sungyoon asks, and Jangjun pretends not to hear as he saunters back to the area behind the counter where Joochan is working, but he glances at Sungyoon enough times throughout the rest of his and Joochan’s shift that Sungyoon knows, for sure, Jangjun hasn’t agreed to this arrangement just to keep a hold on Joochan. 

▲ ▲ ▲

Unexpectedly, it takes very little time for the three of them to settle into an easy, comfortable pattern. 

Sungyoon knows he’s the one who’d initiated it, knows he’s the main reason Jangjun had finally gotten around to clearing up all of the misunderstandings that had accumulated over the years with Joochan so that they were no longer at odds in love, but converging instead. 

It’s just that… somewhere in the back of his mind, Sungyoon had always expected to end up alone. Unlike everyone else in his family, he’d isolated himself more often than he sought out the company of other wolves or people, in general, and he’d learned to find happiness in the small things he could surround himself with. The soft, sturdy material of well made coats. The smell of coffee and vanilla and cinnamon in his rotation of cafes he considered his favorites. The quiet calm of evenings spent on his couch as he thumbed through the pages of books he’d collected and stored in bookshelves that reached his ceiling. 

His older sister had gotten married relatively early, to a rabbit who’d looked at her like she’d created the earth and heavens just for him to exist in, and as Sungyoon had watched them giggle at each other over family dinners and post gooey, affectionate pictures together online for all their friends to see, he’d sort of known that he would never have anything as normal as that. 

Sungyoon’s mother texts him sometimes, asks him if he wants to go on any of the marriage meetings that her friends are setting up for their bachelor sons. He’s not even at an age yet for her to be so invested in or concerned about his relationships, and maybe it’s because she wants to remain hopeful and convince herself there’s still a chance for him to follow in the footsteps of his sister, for him to end up with a perfect marriage and a house in the suburbs with a picket white fence and plans for children that stretched ten years into the future. 

“Are you okay on your own?” she’s asked multiple times, and Sungyoon always tells her _yes_ , so that she doesn't worry. 

Then Sungyoon had stepped into a coffee shop in a hard-to-find junction between the main street and an alleyway, recommended to him by a client (“Everything is wooden and very homey,” she’d said, laughing when Sungyoon’s usually still ears had twitched in remote interest, “I think it would be a nice choice for you.”). He’d spotted two young, handsome baristas bickering behind the wooden counter and underneath a giant blackboard menu, and only after their manager had berated them for neglecting new customers did they stop fighting long enough to ask him sweetly what he wanted to order. Sungyoon had hidden his smile behind the sleeve of his cashmere sweater, and tried his best to ignore the way his heart skipped a beat at the sight of _two_ strangers’ smiles directed at him when he usually didn’t even bat an eyelash at one.

That moment, Sungyoon thinks, marks the point where everything in his life had started to change. 

These days, Sungyoon doesn’t get many quiet evenings to himself. 

He can’t say he minds much, when it means having a bright eyed fox and a devilish cat curl up to him while he’s trying to read, yipping and mewling at various volumes until he gives in to them and sets the book aside after putting a bookmark on the page he’s leaving off on. Joochan openly seeks out affection and compliments, shoving the top of his head under Sungyoon’s palm and waiting for Sungyoon to tell him _good job_ , _little fox,_ while Jangjun is much more demure, only piggybacking off of what Joochan has already gotten and taking advantage of intimacy that’s already being offered rather than asking for it himself. 

Sungyoon doesn’t pry. The most he knows is from what Joochan has revealed here and there, that Jangjun can’t shake off the feeling of being unwanted because of the way he’d grown up in his childhood, and that Joochan had met Jangjun shortly after Jangjun had been rescued and taken in by a nice cat family, who didn’t look anything like him but cherished him like their own. 

So Sungyoon is careful not to push Jangjun beyond his boundaries, makes sure to give Jangjun space. With enough time, Jangjun will trust Sungyoon not to leave, and he’ll realize that the cup and toothbrush Sungyoon leaves out for him whenever Jangjun comes over isn’t temporary, and that Sungyoon pays attention to every little detail and preference of Jangjun’s because he’s in it for the long run. 

Sungyoon buys Jangjun glittery butterfly hair clips, just to clip them into Jangjun’s hair and watch the way Jangjun scowls at both him and Joochan before Jangjun’s taking the clips off and sneakily storing them in the little chocolate tin box where he puts all of the gifts he’s been given that are dear to his heart. Jangjun likes rings, too, so Sungyoon sometimes drops by the jewelry store near his office and sees if there are any that would be worth adding to Jangjun’s collection. 

Joochan likes gifts well enough, and always does a nosedive into the roses Sungyoon sometimes brings home from the floral shop at the halfway point of his commute, but there’s nothing that makes Joochan’s eyes sparkle as brilliantly as they do when Sungyoon makes him food, so Sungyoon ends up cooking more often now that he’s not just feeding himself. 

Joochan and Jangjun tend to hover whenever Sungyoon is in the kitchen. Joochan is well behaved and hardly ever steals a bite unless Sungyoon wants him to taste something for seasoning, and at most he’ll only attach himself to Sungyoon in a backhug, knowing that Sungyoon is too busy to give him kisses but wanting some fraction of warmth regardless. 

Jangjun, on the other hand, remains selectively obedient. He doesn't really care if Sungyoon or Joochan swat at him as long as he gets a piece of raw fish to gnaw on, marinated or not, and in the moments that he’s not feeling boisterous, he shoves food into Joochan’s mouth to shut him up because he thinks Joochan is being too noisy. Even so, Jangjun possesses enough dexterity with knives and various kitchen tools that Sungyoon is more likely to ask him to chop up vegetables than he is to ask clumsy Joochan, despite the fact that Jangjun always pretends like it’s a bother to be roped into helping with dinner and Joochan is willing to assist with anything no matter how out of his element he may feel. 

As time passes, and Joochan and Jangjun start leaving more and more of their clothes at Sungyoon’s apartment, Sungoon does start to notice a change in both of them. A thrumming sense of security that manifests in different ways because of the differences in their personalities, as well as the varying facets of their regard for Sungyoon. 

Joochan gradually becomes more confident, mellowing out and only watching with mild interest whenever Sungyoon buys another cat keychain or cat themed item for Jangjun. He complains that there’s not enough “fox merch” being made despite the demographic being right _there_ , and Sungyoon laughs at him softly, not bothering to tell Joochan about all the fox plushie listings Sungyoon has bookmarked on his web browser. 

Jangjun slowly but surely warms up to Sungyoon, starts showing affection even when Joochan isn’t there to act as a buffer or springboard between the two of them as he did in the past, so that Jangjun could diffuse the uneasiness in the atmosphere that mostly came from him and not so much Sungyoon. Jangjun takes Sungyoon to his favorite sushi restaurant and laughs when Sungyoon wrinkles his nose at the menu prices, then curls his tail around Sungyoon’s thigh later, after they’re finished eating, as Sungyoon wordlessly hands his credit card over to pay the bill without any complaints. 

“There’s no reason for someone like you to be alone,” Sungyoon’s mother says over the phone one day as he stands over the stove to keep an eye on the beef stew, and Sungyoon glances in the direction of the dining table where Joochan and Jangjun are playing Jenga, making sudden noises at each other as a scare tactic whenever either of them comes close to making the tower tip over and fall apart. 

“I’m not lonely, Mom,” Sungyoon says, and wonders idly, whether she’d be happy to know that Sungyoon’s once dreary, dull days are now filled to the brim with noisy laughter, shared meals, and fox and kitten kisses, and that he comes home to an apartment that smells like lingering spices and vanilla, never really cold or empty even in the moments when he’s the only one there. “Don’t worry.” 

“You sound a little different,” she says, meaningfully, and Sungyoon freezes. “...Are you cooking?” 

“Why do you say that?” Sungyoon asks, then jokes, “Can you smell it?” 

“Your sister...” his mother starts, then pauses. Sungyoon licks his lips, and turns the heat to medium low once the broth in the stew has fully boiled, ignoring the way his fingers tremble slightly when he goes back to pick up the wooden spatula again. His sister has always been more curious about his life than he is about hers, but Sungyoon keeps his social media ambiguous enough that she shouldn’t be able to detect anything he’s avoided explicitly expressing to her. 

“What?” 

“Sungyoon, you know I’m fine even if you want to bring your friends home, you know?” 

“Bring my friends...?” Sungyoon laughs thinly, to mask whatever else is bubbling up in him that he doesn’t want to feel. “Do you think I have time to go on playdates with a job like mine?” 

He can feel Joochan and Jangjun turn to look at him in concern, and he waves them off so that they continue focusing on their game of Jenga. 

“You’re a good boy, baby,” Sungyoon’s mother says instead of answering his question. She sounds... hopeful, except it’s a distinctly _different_ sort of hopeful than all the other times she’s called, and Sungyoon doesn’t know whether he’d ever go out of his way to be transparent if the people who loved him didn’t see through him first. “I just want you to be happy.” 

“I am,” Sungyoon says, carefully, and his mother hums. 

“Your sister’s birthday is coming up,” she says. “She gets to choose what cake I make, but I’ll cook your favorite dishes if you can make some time to drop by. There will be more than enough food.” _Enough food for more than just family,_ she doesn’t say, but Sungyoon gets her point anyways, and he thinks it’s... 

“I’ll have to take a look at my schedule, but I’ll think about it,” Sungyoon says, voice going a little wobbly, and as his mother cheerfully bids him goodbye and nags at him to eat well before hanging up, Sungyoon is struck by how many years he’s spent learning to accept that happiness was never made for people like him, and how quickly those expectations are being flipped and subverted every time he blinks.

▲ ▲ ▲

Joochan and Jangjun pounce on Sungyoon as soon as what’s leftover from dinner has been packed and put away in the fridge and the dishes have been washed. 

“Who were you talking to while we were playing Jenga?” Joochan asks, curling his fingers in Sungyoon’s t-shirt while Jangjun settles next to Sungyoon on the opposite side of Joochan. “On the phone.” 

“My mom,” Sungyoon says. 

“What did she want?” Jangjun asks. “For you to go visit?” 

In a rare display of affection, he nuzzles at the side of Sungyoon’s hair briefly before pulling at Sungyoon’s ear to make sure Sungyoon is listening to him, and Sungyoon winces. “Why does it matter?” Sungyoon asks. 

“You sounded nervous,” Joochan remarks. “It seemed like something might have been wrong.” 

“My mom usually calls to figure out whether I’ve found someone to marry,” Sungyoon says, and he gets hums of acknowledgement from both his left and right sides. “Today was the first time she implied that it was fine even if I wanted to bring friends, but…” 

“You haven’t told her about us? When we’re such lovely boyfriends?” Jangjun asks teasingly, and Joochan licks a spiteful, wet stripe up the side of Sungyoon’s cheek. It’s spiteful because both he and Jangjun are well aware that Sungyoon doesn’t like to be groomed, so they do it whenever they want to get on Sungyoon’s nerves or force him to open up. 

“I never…” Sungyoon says. He’d never thought this far, before. His previous partners had expressed little interest in getting to know his family, were even against it at times, and Sungyoon hadn’t really felt inclined to introduce them when coming out sounded like it’d just be a mess. All his parents and sister had ever needed to know was that Sungyoon was _fine,_ because he made enough to support himself and eat well (and now, feed and entertain two pesky, spoiled boyfriends), but then his mother had gone and said something like that out of the blue. “It’s not like I want to keep the two of you a secret or anything.” 

“We know,” Joochan says. 

“I’m good at charming older women,” Jangjun offers. “I don’t mind meeting new people.” 

“Don’t talk about charming my mom, punk,” Sungyoon says, with a laugh of disbelief, and he laughs harder when Jangjun gives him an exaggerated wink. “You’re already a handful, let alone _both_ —” 

“That’s why you have two hands,” Joochan points out, “so you can hold a pretty kitty in one palm and an even prettier fox in the other.” 

Sungyoon sighs, running a hand through his hair as the nervousness in his throat transforms into amusement and trickles down into his chest. “So you’re saying that the two of you are so unbelievably handsome and charming that there’s no way my family wouldn’t fall for you, too?” 

“Yes,” Jangjun says, and Joochan adds, “You’re always telling us to trust you. Shouldn’t you have more faith in us, then, and all the other people who love you?” 

“I’m not sure that it’s something I can change,” Sungyoon says. With Joochan and Jangjun, it isn’t so scary, because they understand his temperament and bend to his will more often than not, but with everyone else, Sungyoon has always been elusive in order to make sure he wasn’t disappointing anyone who’d watched him grow up. 

“It’s never too late to try, hyung,” Jangjun says, sweetly, and while Joochan leans in to kiss Sungyoon on the mouth, Jangjun slides his hand up Sungyoon’s thigh and rests it on the thickest part of the muscle, digging his chin into Sungyoon’s shoulder hard enough that it almost hurts as he waits for his turn to get kisses.

▲ ▲ ▲

Joochan and Jangjun have been a handful to deal with ever since the first day Sungyoon met them, but things somehow get even more overwhelming once it truly sinks in for Jangjun that Sungyoon loves him just as much as he loves Joochan. 

Joochan sends Sungyoon suggestive pictures, occasionally, when he wants to stir up trouble, but he usually times them for when Sungyoon is just clocking out of work or starting his lunch break. Sungyoon’s replies are tame enough, just a brief comment here and there about how nice Joochan’s skin looks or how Sungyoon hopes Joochan’s waiting at home for him, now that Sungyoon’s given both him and Jangjun keys to his place so that they can come over whenever they want. 

Meanwhile, Jangjun takes a twisted delight in causing full blown storms rather than just stirring a bit of trouble. Sungyoon has learned to remain vigilant whenever a notification from Jangjun comes in, because Jangjun has no interest in subtlety, propriety, or timing, and an image attachment at 9 in the evening could be a photo of whatever sugar packed concoction he’s drinking at the moment, while a message sent at 10 in the morning could be a photo of Jangjun in bed, soft workout tee pulled up to his neck and leaving his toned muscles on full display, stripes of release painted across his abs and chest in indication of what he’s been up to right before he took the picture. 

_I’m lonely, hyung,_ he’ll sometimes send as an additional message with a ;) face at the end, and Sungyoon will try desperately to shove the image of a restless, needy Jangjun out of his head before he has to step in a meeting with a clueless client and explain to them yet again the intricate, tedious details of why their trademark proposal won’t work. 

In person, Jangjun is a little different. Joochan is always first choice if Jangjun only wants to get off with one other person, regardless of how busy or tired Joochan may be, and Sungyoon figures it has something to do with Jangjun’s preferences in bed and the type of release he wants, so he doesn’t really bother coaxing Jangjun over to his side because Jangjun seems sure enough in what he wants. After all, Sungyoon is exhausted enough from when both of them demand his full attention at the same time, and he doesn’t mind being given a break, doesn’t feel left out either because he’s not always in the mood. 

Then Joochan mentions at some point, casual as can be, that Jangjun’s just _shy_ and _stupid,_ the latter of which has Sungyoon laughing as he asks what Joochan means. 

“He’s too nervous to ask you for one on one time,” Joochan asks, and Sungyoon’s lips part in soft surprise while Joochan pets at the soft, marbled fur of Sungyoon’s tail. “...Will you just drag him into bed the next time he tries to bug me when I’m studying?” 

“I don’t know if he wants that from me,” Sungyoon says. 

“Believe me, hyung,” Joochan replies, “he whimpers your name enough times in his sleep that I’m pretty sure ninety percent of his wet dreams are about you.” 

The information has Sungyoon mildly wanting to cover his face, but even after his conversation with Joochan is long over, he keeps _thinking_ about it. 

So the next time Jangjun and Joochan are staying over at Sungyoon’s apartment, Sungyoon keeps an eye out for when Jangjun finishes his work. Like clockwork, Jangjun’s tail flutters mischievously as soon as he closes his textbooks, and then he crawls over to Joochan and promptly invades the fox’s personal space, sinking teeth into the nape of Joochan’s neck as his hands travel downwards. 

Sungyoon waits a few minutes because he’s still drinking his coffee and zoning out partially, and then he hears Joochan say something along the lines of _Go bother Sungyoon hyung instead of me,_ to which Jangjun only replies with an irritated noise. 

“That’s enough,” Sungyoon says, pulling Jangjun off of Joochan. “Just because you’re done with your work doesn’t mean you get to distract Joochan from his.” 

Jangjun’s lower lip sticks out, but he doesn’t fight back, and he doesn’t try to pull Sungyoon’s arm off of his waist either. “I want attention, though,” Jangjun says. 

“I’ll give it to you,” Sungyoon says, and Jangjun’s ears perk up with interest.

“Is that a promise?” Jangjun asks, and Sungyoon nods, laughing at the way Jangjun’s whole face lights up with an eager anticipation, attitude doing a complete 180 as he pulls Sungyoon into bed and straddles him with his thin, but wiry thighs. 

“Don’t leave marks,” Sungyoon reminds him, when Jangjun starts kissing down his neck, sucking harshly in specific spots of softer skin. Sungyoon is usually too distracted by Joochan to have the energy or attention span to scold Jangjun; he just ends up inconvenienced the next day when he has to go into work and he’s forced to wear a turtleneck underneath his blazer even in the hottest of weather to avoid his clients giving him pointed looks. 

“I do what I want,” Jangjun says, with a smirk, but he still moves downwards so that the marks he’s currently making will remain hidden below any shirt collar, and Sungyoon lets his fingers settle in Jangjun’s hair as Jangjun grinds his ass down against Sungyoon’s crotch. 

▲ ▲ ▲ 

Sungyoon has never thought very hard about the gifts he gives Jangjun and Joochan beyond his deliberation in how much use they’ll get out of those gifts or whether they’ll like them. He doesn’t need anything in return to know that the depth of their feelings towards him could easily stretch and touch the bottom of the ocean floor. 

So he’s surprised, to say the least, when Joochan stops kissing him after having already pulled Sungyoon’s shirt up and over his head and let his hands wander for a bit, only to carefully put a black velvet choker around Sungyoon’s neck. Joochan’s fingertips ghost over Sungyoon’s skin as he fixes the locking mechanism in place, and the sensation makes the thin hairs on the back of Sungyoon’s neck rise. 

“What—” 

“It’s prettier than I imagined,” Jangjun remarks, and Joochan nods. With his index finger, Jangjun flicks at the little bell hanging from the necklace, and it jingles noisily. 

Sungyoon licks his lips. It feels a little like a pet collar, to have something slightly restricting around his neck that notifies Jangjun and Joochan every time he moves, and he pouts as he shifts his hips. “I’m not a housepet.” 

“Are you sure, hyung?” Jangjun asks. “You stay inside so much when you’re not working that you might as well be one.” 

“Shut up,” Sungyoon says. 

“So many things you give us are a reminder that we’re yours,” Joochan says. “But you don’t have anything to wear that shows you’re ours, too.” 

“So this was your solution?” Sungyoon asks dryly, and Joochan slides a soft palm up to cup Sungyoon’s jaw. In the same breath, Jangjun reaches out to thumb at Sungyoon’s right nipple, and their almost opposite methods of encouragement make Sungyoon laugh breathily as he notes how clearly their reactions highlight the differences in their behavior towards him. “I don’t think delicate things like this suit me.” 

Chokers would look better, in his opinion, on Joochan and Jangjun, who occasionally wear colored mascara and paint their nails to match their outfits, although Sungyoon has worn makeup enough times to not mind it too much, courtesy of Joochan whining about how _pretty_ Sungyoon would look if he let Joochan apply just a little bit of black eyeliner at the outer corners of his eyes. 

“You haven’t even seen yourself,” Jangjun says, running the pad of his finger along the soft material of the band. There’s fascination in both the way he’s touching Sungyoon and the enthusiastic lilt of his voice, and Sungyoon figures he’s okay with feeling a little out of place if it means Joochan and Jangjun are so unequivocally pleased with what they see. “Anyways, we’re keeping it on. It’s not hurting your neck, right?” 

“It doesn’t hurt,” Sungyoon says, agreeing, and it’s only a little eerie when Joochan and Jangjun reply with “Good~” in the same tone of voice, at the exact same time. Sungyoon doesn’t get to linger on it for long, though, because Jangjun is soon purring and pulling Sungyoon’s face in for a kiss while Joochan slides his palms underneath Sungyoon’s ass and begins divesting Sungyoon of his jeans. 

▲ ▲ ▲

After a much needed shower and fresh change of clothes for all of them, Joochan rubs at his damp hair with a towel (the one that has foxes printed all over it) and walks over to the dresser adjacent to Sungyoon’s bed, where the choker’s been laid out flat on the top. 

Sungyoon is sitting on top of his blankets with his back leaned up against the wall, scrolling through his phone. “Are you two that happy because of one choker?” he asks, as he watches Joochan thumb at the necklace. 

“Yes,” Jangjun chirps through a mouthful of toothpaste, from where he’s brushing his teeth in the bathroom, and Joochan laughs. 

“You should wear it to the coffee shop,” Joochan suggests. 

“Absolutely not,” Sungyoon says, coughing. “I’m not going to walk around _jingling._ ” 

“It’d be cute,” Jangjun says, once he’s finished rinsing out his mouth. “A pet cat walks into a bar with a jingle, except surprise, it’s a wolf whose boyfriends just have impeccable taste.” 

Sungyoon can only let out a weak laugh, almost pitying himself, and then Joochan is dropping the towel to hang around his shoulders and crawling into Sungyoon’s lap again, which makes Sungyoon’s sleepy brain go on immediate alert mode because it’s the same thing Joochan had done two hours ago before he and Jangjun had ganged up on Sungyoon and made a mess out of him. 

“That’s not the real gift, though,” Joochan says, carding his fingers through Sungyoon’s thick, fluffy tail, and Sungyoon frowns. He pets Joochan’s ear, fixing the fur so that it’ll dry in the right direction, and notes that almost all of the pink has faded out of Joochan’s hair, leaving the strawberry blonde of Joochan’s natural color showing through. 

“What do you mean?” 

“The choker is kind of a gag gift,” Jangjun explains. “It’s pretty, but it’s for our eyes only.” He climbs onto the bed too, but he’s brought a black velvet box with him, and he slides it onto Sungyoon’s thigh, making sure it won’t fall before he lets go of it. “This is the real one.” 

“Oh?” Sungyoon says, absentmindedly, as he pulls at the red ribbon holding the box together, and the four walls of the box fall down to reveal a gold necklace inside of it. 

“It’s delicate, too, but you’ll be fine wearing this one in public, we hope,” Joochan says. Both he and Jangjun are watching Sungyoon and cataloguing every little shift in Sungyoon’s facial expression as he picks up the necklace in his hands. 

The chain and clasp are dainty, and they look difficult to fasten and unfasten one time, let alone daily. Once Sungyoon puts it on, he’s just going to leave it on and hope for the best, but Joochan and Jangjun probably bought it with that same intention and outcome in mind. There are two pendants hanging off of the chain, not just one, but they’re layered in one cohesive bundle so that they’re at slightly different heights. When Sungyoon takes a closer look, he notices that one is a fox and the other is a cat, meticulously carved, and he glances in between Joochan and Jangjun once realization sinks in. 

“I had my friend custom make it, because he’s good at this sort of thing,” Joochan says. “Jangjun and I would have attempted to make it ourselves, but we wanted you to have something that looked as gorgeous as you, and something you could wear for a really long time without it wearing down.” 

Heat sweeps across Sungyoon’s face and concentrates at the tips of his ears at the word _gorgeous_. “Thank you,” he says, biting at his bottom lip. 

“We’re younger and still in school, so it’s more likely that you’ll buy yourself the nice, fancy things you want,” Jangjun says, “but this is more meaningful, and you’re sentimental like that, right?” 

“Are you making fun of me?” Sungyoon asks, voice shaky, and Jangjun laughs and kisses him in reassurance. “Can you…?” 

“Yeah,” Jangjun says, taking the necklace from Sungyoon’s outstretched hand and then reaching around Sungyoon’s neck to fasten the chain in place. “Oh, wow.” 

“That looks even better than I expected,” Joochan says. He sounds pleased, until he pats Jangjun on the arm. “Jangjun, quick, take off his shirt.” 

Sungyoon blinks, as his hand reflexively meets Jangjun’s hand at the hem of his t-shirt to defend himself. “What—?!” 

“Just kidding,” Jangjun says, tongue darting out wickedly to swipe across his lips as he lets go of Sungyoon. “I’ve had my fill of nutrition for the night.” 

Sungyoon flushes a brighter red. “I’m leaving.” 

“This is your own bed, hyung,” Joochan says. “Shouldn’t you kick us out?” 

“You two would just crawl back in and all over me,” Sungyoon says with a sigh, and the two different laughs he receives in reply only serve as confirmation that he’s right. 

“Don’t leave,” Jangjun says, but then he puts on his thinking face. “Unless you’re going to snore. Then you can leave.” 

When they’re ready to sleep, Joochan gets off the bed momentarily to shut off the lights, then approaches the bed again, pawing at the corners of Sungyoon’s comforter, but his form is still distinct because of their night vision capabilities. “Don’t listen to Jangjun,” Joochan says, after he molds himself to the line of Sungyoon’s back. “He likes listening to the sound of your heartbeat and it helps him sleep.” 

“Hey,” Jangjun protests, even as he tucks his head underneath Sungyoon’s chin. “Sungyoon hyung isn’t supposed to know that.” 

“Why not?” Sungyoon asks, with a yawn. 

“Because you can’t know that I love you,” Jangjun whispers, and he lifts his head to say the words, so his mouth is pressed against Sungyoon’s neck and Sungyoon feels the words as much as he hears them. Jangjun mimics Joochan, who’s on the other side of Sungyoon, and grabs a fistful of Sungyoon’s shirt to hold onto. Sungyoon sighs, but knows it’ll be futile if he tries to remove their hands from his clothes. 

“Oh no,” Sungyoon deadpans. “I would have never known.” 

“Jangjun’s heart boner for you is probably bigger than the Pacific,” Joochan says obnoxiously, and Jangjun splutters. “You’d think that he was in love with you first and not me.”

“Understandable,” Sungyoon says, and Joochan is the one to splutter this time at the implications of Sungyoon’s cheeky reply. “I’m the nice older hyung who spoils him rotten, after all.”

“You’re right. I’m in love with your wallet and all the fish I get to eat thanks to it,” Jangjun says petulantly. 

“I love you, too, kitten,” Sungyoon mumbles into Jangjun’s hair, and Jangjun goes still for a few seconds before he bites Sungyoon’s neck, like he’s annoyed that Sungyoon has seen through him when Sungyoon has been perfectly capable of doing so since the beginning. 

“Not me, I guess,” Joochan jokes, while Sungyoon yelps in pain. Joochan kisses the side of Sungyoon’s neck as if to make up for the damage that Jangjun’s done, a few inches away from where Sungyoon’s been bitten. “Better?” 

“Sure,” Sungyoon says, not sure whether he’s developed an affinity for mixing pleasure and pain, now, or that he’s just gotten so used to it from increased exposure to the polarizing nature of two lovers that he’s learned to accept it. 

“Did you decide whether you wanted to go to your sister’s birthday?” Joochan asks. His voice goes a little whiny, and it’s probably the exhaustion finally seeping into his body after a long day. 

“What should I wear?” Jangjun asks, and Sungyoon laughs. 

“What makes you think you have to plan that far ahead?” 

“I’m prepared for all situations,” Jangjun says. “Plus I already saw that you cleared your schedule on your phone.” 

“That’s just… it’s for if I get courageous enough,” Sungyoon says. He doesn’t really hide his phone screen because he’s only ever looking at work-related content and occasionally plays games, but he hadn’t realized Jangjun was paying such close attention. “Wear the striped sweater Joochan bought for you.” 

“Okay,” Jangjun says. “No pants?” 

“You—” Sungyoon says. 

“I’m kidding,” Jangjun says. Then he laughs, squeaky and amused. “Maybe I’m not kidding. Anyways, if your family doesn’t accept us as your boyfriends, Joochan has like a billion certifications for hapkido.” 

Sungyoon snorts. “I don’t think…” 

“I’ll fight your whole family and your sister’s in-laws, Sungyoon hyung,” Joochan says with groggy ferocity, despite how close he is to falling asleep. “No one’s allowed to hurt my wolfie.” 

“Very reassuring, thank you,” Sungyoon says with a smile, as he shivers at the warmth of Joochan’s lips against his skin. 

“It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine, hyung,” Jangjun says. “It’s your turn to trust us to catch you if you fall. Will you?” 

Despite all the things Sungyoon is afraid to face, he thinks he’s getting a little braver each day because of Joochan and Jangjun, who’d chosen him as much as they’d chosen each other even if they were a little scared, a little uncertain in the beginning. With their noisy antics and pranks and declarations of love, though, they’ve filled in all the cracks of Sungyoon until Sungyoon doesn’t even know where those cracks are anymore, flooded Sungyoon’s days with sunlight and warmth when Sungyoon had spent years mistakenly convincing himself he liked the silver gloom of cloudy days. 

“Yes,” Sungyoon says, exhaling softly. He threads his fingers through the thickness of Jangjun’s hair, and remains vaguely aware of Jangjun’s tail curling around his waist. “I think I will.” 

When Sungyoon finally starts to doze off, it’s to the sound of Jangjun’s steady purrs and Joochan’s uneven, soft yips as he dreams, and the last thing Sungyoon remembers thinking before he gives in to the dark, comforting temptation of sleep is that his heart is overwhelmingly full, yet it keeps expanding for two men who’ll wake Sungyoon up tomorrow with lots of fox and kitten kisses and give Sungyoon renewed strength to take on the challenges of another new day. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! comments are appreciated ♥


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